


The Great and Lovable

by LambentLaments



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Peridot is trans and closeted, direct inspirations from Stevenbomb 4.0, fluffy and cheesy, kinda breakfastclubby later on, so basically cheese puffs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-14 12:23:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5743744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LambentLaments/pseuds/LambentLaments
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Peridot calls Miss Diamond a c-word (though not the one everyone thinks), and so gains friends, a girlfriend, and a whole new outlook on life.<br/>Overall, it's a busy week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write about my favorite gay space rock and her recent infatuations.  
> Written with little planning, and even less editing. Sorry.

Peridot stood on the top of the bleachers, staring at the short wall standing adjacent to it that marked the end of the stadium. It might have been preferable, she thought, watching the broad swipes of grey paint that covered most, but not all, of the prismatic colors underneath, if the wall had been painted over to a clean slate. At its current stage she could still make out some of the rainbows, crystals and roses, but the effect was no longer awe-inspiring; rather, the sight gave Peridot a gut wrenching feeling at the bottom of her stomach.

She sat, drawing up her feet and wrapping her arms around her knees. She bumped her forehead against her knees once, twice, and thrice, then stopped when she heard a manic giggle coming from somewhere. A second later she realized it was coming from her own mouth, and she resumed tormenting her prefrontal cortex. It wasn’t as if it was any good use to her, as had been proved by the incident earlier that day.

“I can’t believe I did that,” she moaned to herself. She closed her eyes, and the day’s incident played out in front of her eyes, causing her to snap her head up. “I never want to think about what I've done again.”

“Wha-t? Why not?” A purple figure landed next to her with a soft thump.

“Awwwk!” Peridot squawked in surprise, and Amethyst sniggered at her, continuing to give her a lopsided grin that really did nothing to calm her nerves. “If it was me I’d be playing it over my mind over and over again. _And_ post it everywhere- facebook, tumblr. Heck, I’d make it my yearbook quote. Miss Diamond, you are a c-“

“Oh, god, please no.”

Amethyst grinned. “Well I guess there’s not much point, though, is there? Since everyone knows about it anyway.”

Peridot was all too aware of that. Even as she’d made a beeline from her last class to the bleachers, two people had asked her if it was true she’d called Miss Diamond the c-word, and she’d been forced to give non-committal grunts as answers to the hitherto unknown individuals. Another had asked her if she really had cherry-bombed the vice principal’s office. Peridot was half sure that in another week she’d be known as a latent Satanist-terrorist who’d judo thrown Diamond outside a second-story building. “I had no idea Diamond’s secretary was such a fibber.”

“But man, I didn’t know you had it in you, ya nerd.” Amethyst bumped her shoulder into Peridot’s. “So what made you throw a fit?”

Peridot licked her lips. “I… had previously believed Diamond to be a rational and prudent administrator. She, however acted in an unreasonable and arbitrary manner that was unfortunately irreconcilable with my own judgments. I wished to state my opinions, and she refused to hear it. The outburst resulting from the disagreement was- spontaneous, to say the least, I assure you.”

Amethyst laughed, deep throated and loudly. Watching her, Peridot couldn’t help giggling along awkwardly. “Was I being ‘funny’ again?” she asked when Amethyst’s guffaws died down to chortles.

“Yeah, Perry, you were. But really, what didya fight her about?”

Instead of answering, Peridot turned her head to look again at the wall, remembering how it looked the day before as a mural, and how the day before that, it was solid grey, with random remnants of thrown soda and marker sketches of four dollar words at the bottom.

 

Peridot had been sitting, not exactly under the bleachers, but on the half-heartedly grassy ground next to it, and leaning against the wall that enclosed the space, creating a harborage from wandering eyes. It was the place she’d been frequenting the most during the recent months, after she’d decided Metasploitable was too easy a target and decided to move on to real operating systems- and been semi-officially banned from using the computer lab as a result. The little sanctuary had a great many benefits, the most ostensible being that the wall cast a pleasant shade from the mid-may sun, so that her spot was cool, yet not so dark that it strained her weak eyes. The wireless connection, admittedly, was poor, but she had bypassed that little problem long before, leaving her free to use her laptop, as she was doing then. Besides, such minor problems were easily counteracted by the fact that she had an unobstructed view of the training track team.

She was distracted from said sight when she heard voices up from the bleachers. “Is this it?” said a voice.

“Yeah, it’s going to be awesome. The biggest one yet,” said another.

“Well, you better be careful. You can’t afford to get caught again.”

The word ‘caught’ grabbed Peridot’s attention, and she looked up. And furthermore, she knew both voices, though she couldn’t put a name to either of them.

“Phish, I’m gonna be fine. Stop being a prude, Pearl.”

That was the one, Pearl. Peridot paused, listening, as Pearl spluttered indignantly, then announced she was busy and had to go inside. Sure she’d get her solitude back, Peridot stretched, getting her legs more comfortable. Walking around all day with thick insoles in her sneakers were starting to take a real toll on her.

“Wait a sec,” the other voice said, and two heads peeped over the bleacher’s ledge. Peridot thought Pearl looked a little panicked, though Amethyst (because it was she that Pearl was talking to, Peridot now saw) looked just a bit amused. Pearl turned to Amethyst, whispering nervously, and Amethyst raised her eyebrows, saying in a clearly audible voice, “I’ll talk to him.” Pearl hesitated, then vanished from view.

“Hey,” Amethyst called from above. “You’re Perry, right?”

Peridot was surprised. She’d assumed recognition would be a one-way deal, as usual. Peridot was a corner lurker, and even if she stood out a bit, people tended not to remember her name, relying on other sobriquets such as nerd, weirdo, and the most affectionate of all, faggot.

“…yeah?”

“You’re Steven’s friend?”

Peridot hesitated. After Jasper’s parents had made her transfer to another school after she knocked a girl up, Steven was the closest thing to a friend she had, but she wasn’t sure if sitting together at lunch a couple of times at his insistence had earned her that merit. “Steven’s friends with everyone,” she said instead.

Amethyst laughed. “Got that right.” She paused, then continued. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

“Tell what?” Peridot said truthfully, but Amethyst seemed to have been reassured. She tiptoed and studied the ground below. “Hey, I’m going down, ‘kay?”

“What?” Peridot fumbled to get up. “No, just- use the stairs.“

But Amethyst was already climbing over the edge. Peridot scrambled to get her laptop out of the way. She succeeded, but she put herself in Amethyst’s trajectory in the process. Amethyst bumped into her while landing, and the impact threw Peridot off her feet.

“Ow.” She blinked. “Ow ow ow ow ow.”

“Fuck, you okay?” Amethyst tried to pull her to her feet, and Peridot pulled back with a hiss.

“Ow.”

“Come on, let me see.”

Amethyst gingerly peeled off her left glove, and Peridot saw the upper digit of her thumb starting to swell up, and the skin under her thumbnail blossoming a dark red. While Amethyst apologized profusely, Peridot checked the damage. She was pretty sure it wasn’t broken. It did look worse than it felt.

She told her so, to her uncharacteristically stricken looking face. “I can still move it, see? Ow.”

“Sorry, man.”

Peridot sighed. “Just get me my stuff, will you?”

Amethyst started gathering up her things into her bag. Peridot saw her looking curiously at her still open laptop, and she lurched forward to slam it shut quickly.

“You sure you’re gonna be okay?” she asked, handing Peridot her bag.

“Yes, I’ll be f-“ Peridot scrunched her face. “Shit.”

“You’ll be shit?” said an amused Amethyst.

Peridot rolled her eyes. “No, it’ just- I can’t drive. I’m going to have to walk home.”

“I’ll give you a lift, come on.”

“That’s not necessary,” Peridot protested, though she did follow Amethyst walking out to the fields.

“Uh- it kinda is. It kinda became my business after I broke your body parts.”

“Singular.”

“What?”

“Part, not parts. Singular, not plural.”

Amethyst gave her an incredulous look, then laughed. Peridot wondered if she was mocking her, she was never very good at discerning ques. But it seemed genuine- mostly, anyway. “You’re funny, Perry.”

“I’m… funny?”

Amethyst gave her lopsided grin in confirmation, and Peridot felt… bigger, somehow. “So,” Amethyst coked her head. “You ship Percierre?”

Peridot stiffened. Remind her never to read slash fics in school ever again. “Yes,” she snapped. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Unbelievable,” Amethyst said. Peridot looked down at her feet. She had been misled into letting her guard down. More than two years of high school left, and she was going to spend it being slammed into lockers. But Amethyst continued, “Paulette and Patricia are so much cuter together.”

Peridot glanced at her, surprised, then felt a manic grin starting to spread across her face. “I must disagree. Allow me to explain…”

 

 

But of course, all that was in the past. Peridot was snapped back to reality by “Uh… yo, dorko! Zoning out there?”

Peridot was still staring at the wall. If she knew the truth, Amethyst would never come over to her house to watch CPH again, or talk to her in the hallway like she had yesterday.

“I said, what did you fight Diamond about?”

“Nothing important.”

Amethyst shrugged with an ‘all right,’ and turned as well, to see the same view as Peridot’s. “Sucks, doesn’t it? It really was cool. I figured they’d leave alone for a couple of days at least.”

“I hoped so as well,” Peridot muttered, feeling smaller by the second.

“Well, can’t do anything ‘bout it now.” Amethyst stood up and stretched. "See ya, Perry."

"Goodbye, Amethyst." Peridot looked down at her feet. She was a failure and a traitor. Her only hope was that Amethyst would never find out. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just *know* that same time next week, I'll reread this and wince every other sentence, but it's midnight. I have no self-restraint at midnight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's taken so long to update! On the bright side, I can now pretend I wrote this for Femlash Feburary.

Detention was, Peridot mused, such a theoretically obsolete form of punishment. Mankind had exacted so much time and resources to invent commodities with the sole purpose of combatting tedium, and yet it was still caught up with the notion that having someone sit alone for a short period of time could be considered as punishment. She had a wireless Bluetooth earphone in her ears, carefully covered by her thick, chin length hair, blaring out podcasts. 20 minutes done, 5 hours and 40 minutes to go.

Peridot slumped further into her chair. Relief had been the primary sentiment when all she got for her outburst was 4 weeks of Saturday detentions, and a note for her parents to sign. Weeks from now, she might think somewhat differently, but right now, she wasn’t feeling the adolescent grievance of missing out in life that she assumed to be the purpose of detention.

She was half-heartedly concentrating on the podcast, watching a spot on her desk, when she heard Mr. Smiley saying something, though she couldn’t make out what because of the earbuds. She looked up to see Amethyst closing the door behind her, looking bored at the reprimands that were apparently being doled out to her. She said something that made the kids in front of her bite their laughs, and left Smiley silent and fuming. Peridot would have given anything to hear what it was.

Amethyst was wearing the same shoes from yesterday, when they’d talked on the bleachers. Peridot thought the white ankle boots must have made quite a bit of sound as Amethyst walked her way down the aisle to find a seat, from the way she was dragging her feet. She could see Smiley shaking his head behind her, refilling his mug with coffee from his thermos with an expression that said he’d need a lot more caffeine in order to deal with this.

Amethyst caught her eye. She gave her a smirk, and Peridot mouth-read Amethyst saying, ‘hey, Perry.’

“Hi, Amethyst,” Peridot replied. The classroom erupted in sniggers, loud enough to cut through the podcast, and she flushed, realizing Amethyst must have been only mouthing the words at her, as she herself should have as well. She saw Smiley gesturing with his mug, saying something to her angrily, and she nodded, eyes to the desk again.

The hours went by. Peridot was acutely aware of Amethyst sitting in the row behind, diagonally from her. She was constantly tempted to turn her head to see what Amethyst was doing. Maybe she was looking at Peridot- but no, it couldn’t be. She was probably half-dozing, or texting her friends under the table. Of course she was. A bit before the bell rang, Smiley left the room, apparently for a bathroom break, and Amethyst took the opportunity to venture quickly outside as well. Peridot was tempted to follow suit, but of course, that would have been stupid.

She’d had her eyes closed- the minutes smearing together into hours, and the minute functions of her body; the inaudible groans of her joints and the strain in her thighs, threatening to eclipse the words in her ears, when the bell rang. Making sure Smiley wasn’t looking at her, she carefully removed her earphones, and watched Smiley leaving them with strict admonitions to be seated exactly 50 minutes hence after.

She pulled out her lunch, and was inspecting the bruised part of her apple when she heard Amethyst’s chair being pulled out.

“Hey, nerd. Mind if I join you?”

Peridot was about to point out the obvious fact that Smiley had strictly ordered them not to do such a thing, but all of a sudden her the nerves of her shoulder burned, as if from an old would with the memory of Amethyst yesterday from the bleachers, bumping her shoulder into hers. _Never knew ya had it in you_ , she’d said.

Wordlessly, she moved her chair to accommodate Amethyst. Spurred by the two of them, a couple of the other students also started to join up with each other, which mitigated Peridot’s qualms a great deal more than she’d have admitted.

“So what have you got there?”

The contents of her lunch seemed oddly childish and pretentious once she splayed them out. She had been a sickly child, suffering from bouts of asthma and atopic dermatitis triggered by random foodstuffs, and the habitual careful governance with which her meals had been prepared had yet to be disposed of.

But Amethyst only eyed her sandwich and apple with hunger. “Whaddaya say we share?”

“Didn’t you bring anything yourself?”

As an answer, Amethyst pounded into her bag of chips, opening it with a bang. A couple of kids jumped in their chairs, and she cackled under her breath. “But this lil’ thing ain’t enough. There wasn’t anything in our fridge, so.”

Peridot thought for a second about school bullies, and how they were supposed to steal lunches. (Not that she’d actually seen it in real life, as she didn’t live in an actual cliché) But surely Amethyst wasn’t doing anything of the sort.

Peridot relinquished her apple, and tried not to show her entrancement as Amethyst flipped her hair behind her ears to eat- there was just so _much_ of it, Peridot could only imagine the effort it took to bleach it platinum. She also secretly thought it was worth it, considering the contrasting effect it had against Amethyst’s olive-brown skin.

“So what are you here for?” Peridot asked, trying to distract herself.

Amethyst cackled, displaying a good show of the contents in her mouth. “Ooh, this is a good one. Okay, so we were learning about cleavages, you know like with rocks?”

“Yes?”

“So, an amethyst-“

“Doesn’t have cleavage… I think I can guess what you said to that.”

“Yup, couldn’t have anyone spewing lies like that, could I?”

“Surely not,” Peridot said without thinking.

Amethyst looked surprised, then amused. “Well, there’s that. No need to ask what _you_ did.”

Again, it came back to that. Why was she constantly made aware how their amity was based on falsehood and misunderstandings?

“Hey, Perry, I wanna show you something,” said Amethyst after they’d finished eating.

“Is it strictly necessary?”

She’d thought Amethyst would ask again, she’d only meant to avoid agreeing with everything Amethyst asked her to do, but Amethyst noticeably froze for one second, and muttered, “No, of course not. I’ll leave you with-“

“No, I want to go,” Peridot hurried to her feet, blushing. “Show me.”

Still, her misgivings came back once Amethyst had taken her along the hallways and further away from their classroom than she’d have expected. “Where are we going?” Peridot whispered. “It’s nearly end of break.”

“It’s all right,” Amethyst said, not bothering to lower her voice at all. “I took care of Smiley.”

“ _Took care?_ ”

“I put laxative in his coffee.” She said it like she wanted to sound off-hand, but the glee and pride was obvious in her voice.

“But- you-,” Peridot spluttered. Amethyst frowned at her, and Peridot smiled awkwardly. She had to be _cool_ , and brave like Amethyst thought she was. “Umm… I mean, what if he’s allergic to whatever you put in?”

“Chill, Perry. I’m sure he’s fine. Well, not fine, really,” she laughed. “Anyway, betcha he’s _occupied_ for the next hour. Am I awesome or what?”

“Yes… awesome,” Peridot said, distracted by the direction they were taking. “But I have to ask, are you planning to take me to the school office? I can’t imagine what business we might have there.”

“We’re going there to commemorate your victory. Perry versus the regime! Scream with me, P, ANARCHY, _whoo_ -oo!”

“…I’d rather not, if you will.”

They had reached the door to the school office, and Amethyst was rummaged her pocket. She dug out a credit card, and sticking her tongue out, fiddled the side of the door with it.

Peridot watched for a while, though it was apparent from the start that Amethyst had no idea what she was doing. “Are you sure you’re accustomed to the procedure?” Did she sound condescending? It was always so hard to tell.

“Movies always make stuff look easy,” Amethyst grumbled.

“You are trying to _open_ it, right?”

“Duh, what do you think I’m doing? I thought you were smart, Perry. Guess you fooled me with your glasses an’ all. Why are they tinted anyway?”

“I have weak eyes and blue light- from electronical devices, you know?- was causing me photochemical retinal injury. But that’s not the point. You’re supposed to do it while turning the door handle- you know what, I’ll take over from here.” She knelt next to a skeptical looking Amethyst. “If you will.”

After half a dozen attempts the door opened with a click. “Hah! Take that, you primitive lock system! Admit it, you’re obsolete in the face of superior logic and hand-eye coordination!”

“Yeah! Go, super-nerd!”

Amethyst helped her up, and they entered the office. “So, what did you mean by commemoration?” Peridot asked.

In lieu of an answer, Amethyst entered Diamond’s office, and proceeded to fling herself on the vice-president’s chair. “He-hey, look how far back it goes.”

“You can’t sit there!”

“Why not? Diamond’s not here now, right?” She scooted sideways to make room. “It’s got awesome back support,” she sang.

Peridot looked sideways. Amethyst thought Peridot was some delinquent, someone who was above the rules. A mere few days ago, she’d have scoffed at the notion. It wasn’t so much that she had a very high respect for social norms, rather, it seemed so trivial and childish to go through much lengths to purposely defy them. And yet, trivial and childish was exactly what Amethyst was, and Peridot did not mind her at all, did she?

She sat herself next to Amethyst and let laughter splutter out of her mouth. It was both nerve wrecking and exhilarating to look at the office from this perspective, and the warm, squishy feeling of Amethyst’s hips next to her wasn’t helping to calm her down.

Amethyst swiveled the chair, and caught by surprise, Peridot snorted in laughter. Amethyst caught the desk and aligned the chair to its previous position. “Your laughing’s kinda weird, did you know that?”

“Yes, I’ve been told so multiple times, unfortunately. Lo, the wonders of the environment of public education.”

“No, I mean,” Amethyst said hurriedly. “In like a good way. It sounds real, ya know? Most of the time people laugh because of the situation, like, because they think they should, but yours isn’t like that.”

Amethyst was blushing, and Peridot thought she could feel herself following suit.

“Well,” Amethyst said. “Point is, you’re cooler than I thought, Perry. You should hang out with the rest of the gang.”

“You mean Pearl and Garnet and Steven?

“Yeah, us Crystals, yo.”

So, the ‘Crystals’. They had a name for themselves. That was cute, unless… “The denomination ‘crystal’ doesn’t, by any chance refer to a… um… recreational substance you might perchance…” she coughed.

“Yeah, we have Meth Mondays every week. We have orgies every other Thursday,” Amethyst dead panned.

“I think this is adequate timing for me to tell you that I’m not very adept at telling when people are joking or not.”

“Seriously, Perry? Steven still watches Crying Breakfast Friends!”

“That’s a no then.”

“A definite no, so you can’t use that as an excuse not to hang out with us. It’s cool if you don’t want to, ‘course. Pearl mentioned you two had a rivalry thing going on way back.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. She was my lab partner once in middle school, and we both tend to get territorial when it comes to schoolwork, it seems.” This was, of course, only part of the story. They had met at a period of time when Peridot had been in the grueling process of persuading her parents to allow her puberty blockers, and Pearl, with her graceful long legs and ‘feminine’ attire, had done nothing to alleviate her recurrent deep-gut feelings of jealousy and perturbation. Even then, she had been aware the real source of her antagonism was herself and not Pearl, but she’d admittedly done little to convey to her of the fact. “It’s Garnet that I’m… uncomfortable with, actually. She’s...”

“Terrifying?”

“Something along that line, yes.”

“She’s cool once you get to know her, I swear. Plus, we all thought it was really neat what you did. Everyone wants to know you better. You’ll be fitting in in no time.”

Peridot had been smiling up to that point. It was suddenly much harder to keep the smile in place.

Amethyst cackled and left jumped off the seat. “Ohh man, I wanted try this out. Stay put, man.”

Opposite the desk she put her hands behind her back and held her head up haughtily. Peridot realized Amethyst was doing an impression of her. It was actually pretty good. Amethyst narrowed her eyes at her and said coldly, “Diamond, you are a cunt.”

“Amethyst-“

“Not like this, huh? Show me, then.” Amethyst bounded across, pulled Peridot to her feet, and replaced her on the seat. “C'mon.”

Peridot slowly walked to the opposite side. Facing Amethyst, she imagined how it should have happened. She opened her mouth. And closed it. She was a bad liar anyway.

“Amethyst, I-“ She realized she was twirling her fingers in her shirt. She curled them into a fist instead. With the two of them positioned like this, she was getting a conscious déjà vu of the events several days before.

“What’s wrong, P?” Amethyst was frowning.

Peridot clenched her eyes shut, and said quickly, “I didn’t call Miss Diamond a cunt.” She opened her eyes though she stared at the floor, not meeting Amethyst’s eyes. “I’m the one who got your graffiti erased. I’m not _cool_ , Amethyst. It’s all a lie.”

Amethyst didn’t say anything. At some point Peridot scrounged up enough courage to look up. Amethyst’s face was unreadable. Peridot had grown accustomed, during the short period of time they’d spent together, to seeing her eyes either lazily half-lidded, or shining in excitement. Now they were steeled in scrutiny, and Peridot grew smaller under her gaze.

“Amethyst?”

Amethyst shushed her.

“I know you wouldn’t want-“

“No, listen, someone’s coming,” Amethyst whispered, sliding out of the chair.

Grabbing Peridot by the hem of her shirt, Amethyst led her quickly and quietly to the door of the office, which, Peridot noticed too late, was ajar. Amethyst nudged her to put her back to the wall, and peeked out the door towards the hallway. It was only when she released her that Peridot was aware of the disappointing fact that Amethyst had tugged her along by her shirt, not her hand or wrist as she's had expected; Amethyst was usually free with physical contact. 

"Follow me." With no further warning Amethyst took off into the hallway. Peridot had multiple times noticed the unexpected casual grace with which Amethyst moved, but she had a harder time appreciating it this time as she struggled to catch up. She was, however, somewhat encouraged by the sound of humming and footsteps she could hear from around the corner.

Amethyst had already reached the faculty bathroom down the hall and was giving the door an experimental push. It opened, and Amethyst motioned for Peridot. She entered, wheezing slightly.

Amethyst locked the door behind her, and looked at Peridot. She impulsively backed up, and felt her legs hit the toilet.

"So," Amethyst said. "What did you mean when you said it was 'all a lie?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot tells Amethyst what transpired in the office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The flashback dialogue is pretty much the script from the show.
> 
> The name Margaret is derived from the greek word for pearl. Also, I thought Yellow Diamond's pearl looked like a Margaret.

Once she decided to relay them, the day's events came fresh to her mind.

===

Outside the school office, Peridot took a deep breath. “She’ll sort this out,” she muttered, and with somewhat better composure, entered slowly. Though Peridot could swear the nervous energy she exuded was a near audible force, the secretary didn’t even look at her when she closed the door behind her. At first Peridot assumed her entrance was too quiet, but when she crossed the waiting area to the secretary’s desk and still the pale woman’s head was still resolutely bowed towards a document, it became apparent her presence was being purposely ignored.

Peridot coughed and came the nasal, disinterested reply of “Yes, can I help you?”

“I’m here to speak with Miss Diamond.” Peridot failed to keep the end of the sentence lilting up to a question.

The secretary frowned. No, it wasn’t even a frown per se, more of a tiny twitch of the eyebrows, condescended for things that didn’t even deserve a frown. Peridot fought the urge to flick dust at the puffed up shoulders of the secretary’s canary-yellow cardigan. “Who sent you?” the secretary asked, opening a thick notebook of schedules and leafing through it.

“No one.”

“Then did your teacher authorize your absence from class?”

“…No.” The secretary lifted her head to give her an incredulous look, and Peridot stammered, “B-b-but it’s an emergency.”

“That’s no excuse to come in during class hours. You can set up an appointment, and you can talk to her after-“

“Margaret?” came the cold, aloof voice of Miss Diamond from the inner vice-principal’s office.

“Yes, ma’am?”

It was unfortunate that Peridot too nervous to appreciate how the secretary’s facial expression morphed to that of a frightened rabbit.

“Is there someone in the office?”

“Yes, ma’am, I was just telling him that-“

“I’ll take it from here. Tell him to come in.”

Peridot flashed the secretary a smug smile, which quickly slid off when she entered the vice-principal’s office. Miss Diamond was talking on the phone, and she motioned for Peridot to sit on the chair facing her.

“Well, that’s not _my_ problem is it? That’s- no, you tell the board yourself. I have tenets, and I have no wish to forgo them for the sake of your _incompetence_.” The vice principal ended the call, and sparing only a second to calm herself, eyes closed, tight lipped, shook her head and placing her eyes on the computer screen and her hands on the keyboard, addressed the nervous blonde in front of her. “Yes?”

“Miss Diamond, it’s Perry.”

“Which Perry?”

Peridot bit her bottom lip at the disinterested, unfamiliar way Diamond spoke her legal name. She had been so sure Miss Diamond would remember her from her Physics classes from last year, before Principal Quartz passed away and Miss Diamond got promoted. Peridot had been top of the class, after all, which had as much to do with her love for science as the way Miss Diamond’s sharp suits accentuated her long, graceful neck. She’s been sure she’d been one of Miss Diamond’s favorites, insofar as the clinical and impartial Miss Diamond could _have_ favorites, but now she felt stupid and nameless, sitting on the stiff chair, crossing and uncrossing her ankles over and over again.

“Fawcett, ma’am.”

“Spell it out for me, will you?” Peridot did, and Diamond typed in the computer in front of her.

Now that what little tie she’d believed she had with the vice principal was a moot point, she felt the courage she’d managed to dredge up dwindle rapidly, until she lost all pretense of composure, and her mouth started rambling on its own. “I’m sorry to barge in like this, but I was in class and I saw the workers setting up, and I always respected you and I thought this was the best way to-“

Miss Diamond put up a hand. “I would appreciate it if you could convey your words in a more articulate fashion, Mr. Fawcett.”

Peridot blushed and took a deep breath. “I saw the workers coming in to paint over the wall. I hoped to convey my opinions concerning the graffiti next to the bleachers and perhaps persuade-“

For the first time Miss Diamond turned her full attention on her. “Graffiti?”

Peridot looked uncomprehendingly at the way Miss Diamond arched an eyebrow, and stiffened as realization dawned. “The workers were here-“

“For regular maintenance on the outer walls, yes.”

“Oh…”

“But thank you for going out of the way to notify me of the vandalism, Mr. Fawcett. Next to the bleachers, did you say? Had I been informed any later than today, removal procedures would have been considerably delayed. It is my opinion that scrupulous, rule-abiding students like you are the gems of the school, and later society. I’ll make sure this is included in your records. You may return to class now.”

Peridot gritted her teeth. She couldn’t back out _now_. “Wait! I-I wouldn't called to waste your time just to tell tales.”

“Tell tales? You mean to say you know the identity of the vandals?”

“No! No, of course not!”

Peridot was sure the vice principal could see right through her lie and accuse her of it, but Diamond said instead, “So why _have_ you wasted my time?”

“The reason I came... the real reason is... I believe you should let the graffiti be, until the games next week.”

“…Why?”

“I know it’s defacement, but it’s beautiful, and I think the all students could benefit from the artistic and aesthetics values-“

“I’ve heard enough. I don’t care about _art_ , I don’t care about _aesthetics_. I want it gone, and I want it gone _today_.”

“But… No!”

The vice-principal’s face turned terrifying cold. “Are you questioning my authority?”

Peridot was now sweating profusely. “I’m questioning your objectivity.”

“You are out of line. I’m not interested in the puny thoughts of a fifteen year old!”

“You… YOU…” In a split second she saw her never-to-be futures flitting across her eyes. _Goodbye MIT, goodbye Caltech. Goodbye, Google Pixel C- I won’t be getting you as a birthday present now. Goodbye, my invisibility status._ “YOU CON… formist…” Peridot’s courage left her at the first syllable of that word and tapered off to a whisper, but the damage was done.

And that was how Peridot would come to be known by the whole school as ‘the nerd that called Diamond a cunt to her face.

“…and that’s what happened,” Peridot finished her story. “I had no idea Diamond’s secretary was such a blabbermouth. I suppose it’s not my fault she heard and interpreted things wrong, but it doesn’t change the fact that I did nothing to correct people’s assumptions. I’m not the sort of person you thought I was and I’m sorry that I wasted your time.”

Amethyst, leaning sideways against the wall with her arms crossed, said, “Okay.”

Peridot paused, momentarily lost for words. Whatever response she’d been expecting, this wasn’t it. “But… I ruined your art. I lied.”

“Yeah, it would’ve been better if told me this earlier. But really, ‘conformist’ is a hella better insult than ‘cunt’. What’s wrong with a good ol’ cunt? And, plus, you didn’t ruin _my_ art.”

“You mean…” Peridot blinked. “It’s not yours, the graffiti?”

“Eh, more like Vidalia’s. Or Rose Quartz’s, since it was made in her memory.”

“Vidalia, the one whose hair looks like an onion?”

“Yup,” Amethyst popped her p. “She’s the one who drew it. Weird how you noticed her hair, though. Everyone else prolly calls her ‘the one with the fishnets and piercings’.”

“But I thought you’d drawn it… there was an amethyst in the corner and-“

“Neh, I can’t draw to save my ass. I’m just her… muse.” Amethyst posed jauntily and flipped her hair at her.

So Amethyst hadn’t done the painting. Peridot felt a bit better. But now there was an even more pressing problem. “So are you two…” she coughed. “umm…”

Amethyst chortled. “Girlfriends? Lovers?” she wriggled her eyebrows. “Fuck buddies?” She laughed even harder at Peridot’s blushing face. “Neh, believe it or not, Vidalia’s as straight as they come. Though I like how you think, Perry.”

“I’m still sorry I ruined it.”

“You didn’t ruin it, Perry. Graffiti’s supposed to be ephemeral.” She grinned. “Look at me, spouting SAT words. Guess your brain cells are rubbing off of me. Anyways, it’s what Vidalia says, art isn’t eternal because it’s encased in glass for a long time; it’s when it effects people, and changes them that they have real meaning that lasts. Even if that graffiti lasted a few more weeks, in a couple months nobody would’ve remembered anything bout it, even Vidalia, but now we’ll remember it, _Diamond_ will remember it, and that’s how art is supposed to last.”

“That’s… deep.”

“Yep, that’s Vidalia.”

“So,” Peridot felt a smile surfacing nervously on her face. “We’re good?”

Amethyst moved in closer to give her a fist bump. It felt a little odd; it had been a very long time since Peridot had fist bumped anyone. She thought she liked it.

“It feels kinda weird I have to keep reassuring you that I actually like you,” Amethyst said. “Before I really talked to you I would’ve figured wouldn’t care.”

“Care about what?”

“What people think about you, I guess. You looked all cool and collected.”

“I usually don’t care as much as I feel like I should, I suppose. But I do care how you think of me.” And then she blushed, to make it worse.

Amethyst looked amused. For a second Peridot thought Amethyst was making fun of her, such was her habit. To be honest it was starting to become her biggest peeve about Amethyst, the way her affections seemed condescending at times, as if Peridot’s company was kept for its entertainment value. And it was in a joking voice that she asked, “What makes me so special?” But her face looked just a bit nervous, and Peridot knew her answer would matter.

Peridot considered it. And more. At that moment she consciously examined all facts to find the answer. Amethyst had called her ‘cool’, had joined her in watching Camp Pining Hearts, and was only one step away from her, close enough to feel her body warmth. Those were all good reasons, but they weren’t enough. Then miraculously, she realized Amethyst herself wasn’t special at all, not in any clear rational manner, despite her hair and piercings and showy boots. She could’ve been any one of thousands, maybe millions of people out there. And yet she had managed to mean so much to her. It was strangely frightening, because it meant that the thousands of people Peridot had encountered in her life had become meaningless through Peridot’s fault alone, but then it wasn’t frightening at all, as Amethyst was here in right in front of her eyes.

Amethyst had become special, only because Peridot liked her.

The fact hit her with a force bigger than she’d have expected, and left her simply staring at Amethyst, unable to explain it in an understandable manner. Moreover, it seemed an inconsequential matter to explain it all, as it occurred to her that she was still staring into Amethyst’s eyes, and Amethyst was, for some inexplicable reason, doing the same thing.

Had Peridot wondered, lying on her bed, perhaps, how Amethyst’s lips would feel against hers? It was certainly a matter deserving of contemplation; they looked nearly impossibly plush, and that harelip… Yes, this was what her life had come to- sexualizing birth defects.

And then Amethyst was leaning in, and Peridot’s brain was overloading, and they were both still staring unblinkingly, even when they met, and Amethyst’s nose skewed off Peridot’s glasses.

Peridot’s mind went blank. The world had curtailed to two things; _Amethyst_ , and the thudding of her heart in her throat.

A couple seconds later however, her thoughts came back online, and Peridot pulled back.

“Amethyst, wait.”

For one split second Peridot could see plainly her hurt look, then Amethyst hid it with a nonchalant smile that made Peridot’s heart constrict.

“There’s something else I got to tell you.” She straightened her glasses.

“Look, you don’t have to explain. Still friends, right?”

“Well, yes, but, no, I mean,” she took a breath. At that moment she hated Amethyst for the sheer fact that she had to tell her all this, and then she hated herself for thinking that. “Did you, um, ever think you might like girls?”

Amethyst lips formed an ‘o’. “You think you might be gay? Is that it?”

“No! I mean, yes, maybe I am, gah, I haven’t figured it all out, but that’s not the point.”

“O…kay. What is it, then?”

It shouldn’t be so hard to tell her. Amethyst was open minded; it was one of her best qualities. But _accepting_ someone and _liking_ someone were two different things, weren’t they? Peridot suddenly wished she hadn’t broken off the kiss. She could have told her later on, when Amethyst was into her enough. Or maybe she should have told her before she did something stupid like kiss her out of the blue.

Then she heard someone knocking on the door. Peridot was almost relieved, almost.

“Anyone there?”

It was the janitor. Amethyst opened her mouth to respond, but Peridot clamped her hand to her mouth. Amethyst managed to convey with her facial expression alone, the words ‘what the heck, dude?’

 _He’ll know it was us that broke into the office_ , she tried to mouth, but judging by Amethyst’s expression she got none of that. Meanwhile, the janitor’s knocking became more insistent until it stopped.

“Mr. Smiley, how are you?”

While Amethyst and Peridot looked stricken at each other, the two outside kept talking, though the words were muffled by the door. They were undoubtedly comparing their notes on what had happened.

Amethyst grimace was unmistakably one of resignation, but Peridot couldn’t share her placidity. She squeezed and unsqueezed her fists in an effort to think until she had an idea (albeit an incredibly idiotic one in a second’s retrospect).

She went to stand on the toilet seat, then carefully tested the top of the toilet tank. Not entirely assured, she climbed up. She looked back to look at Amethyst, to meet a not-entirely-sold Amethyst raising an eyebrow at her _._ Peridot looked up at the ceiling tiles, and reached up on tiptoes. Her fingers skimmed the grimy tile and assured her that they were indeed loose. She managed to move it out of the place in several tries, and though the sound of it grating against the other tiles seemed deafening to her ears, she knew her apprehension had aggrandized it.

She felt a hand on her hip. Amethyst had joined her on the toilet, and she whispered, much too close to her earlobes for her to hold back a shiver, “Grab the edge. Yeah, like that. Jump at the count of three. One-“

“Wait, wait,” Peridot gasped frantically. The dark yawn in the ceiling looked down at her uninvitingly. And worse, she could not even imagine the things that lived there. A sudden image of a dozen, and now a hundred camel crickets came to her mind. She shuddered. “You should go first.”

But the knocking suddenly resumed. “I’m opening the door,” the janitor announced. Peridot thought she heard the rattling of keys.

“Jump!” Amethyst hissed.

Peridot jumped. With Amethyst’s assistance, she managed to get her lower arms and elbows on the inner tile, and she dangled uselessly for a second until adrenaline pumped through, and with a cacophony of imagined groans from her various muscles, she hoisted herself in. It was dark, cramped, and very dusty. Lying on her stomach, Peridot tried not to breathe in too deeply.

“Come on!” Amethyst hissed.

Peridot scrabbled to position herself facing the hole, and succeeding, held out her arms. Amethyst grabbed her wrists, and Peridot pulled. Without much space, her movement was restricted, and Amethyst let go as soon as she had enough grounding to pull herself through.

Amethyst banged her head on the ceiling as she did so, then quickly replaced the ceiling tile. The space was swathed in darkness, and Peridot moved towards Amethyst to lay a hand on her arm, or at least what she presumed was her arm. Was that the sound of the door opening? Peridot was sure that with all the noise they’d been making, this was the first place the janitor would look, and they’d be dragged down dusty and embarrassed.

She heard muffled talking, confused and apologetic. She grasped Amethyst a bit harder, and the arm moved to be replaced with a firm, dusty hand.

Half a minute, maybe more, though it felt much longer to her, and the door shut. They lay in the darkness for just as long, until Amethyst whispered, ‘They’re gone.”

Peridot didn’t answer immediately, though she knew it was true. After a bit, she opened her mouth, coughed, then said, “We should get out of here.”

Amethyst went first this time. She dropped to the toilet lid with a thunk then held out her arms for Peridot. Peridot tried to be graceful like Amethyst had, but she ended up getting pretty much caught by Amethyst as she fell. For a moment they stood there, dust falling all around them.

“We really should stop meeting like this,” Amethyst said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Dropping from the sky, I mean.” Peridot thought Amethyst looked a bit self-conscious at her own joke, but the discomfit was gone in a second as she grinned instead.

And all of a sudden it was very funny, “Yes, we should.” Peridot giggled. Tension was waning, leaving behind room for misguided notions of humor. “I saved us, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you saved our sorry asses all right.”

For some reason it all made her cackle hysterically, the dirty stripes of grime on Amethyst’s nose, the slightly bewildered, slightly amused look on her face at Peridot’s sudden excitement, and mostly, the fact that Peridot had made _Amethyst_ crawl into a ceiling vent.

“I mean,” She snorted, “Did you see that? I did that, me, _Peridot_!”

She didn’t realize her slip of the tongue until she took in Amethyst’s raised eyebrows a couple seconds later. “Peridot?” Amethyst asked.

For a second Peridot froze, and flitted across her mind a hundred lies to get out of the situation. Then she stopped. There was an intense sense of tranquility that was starting to rise out of her. She remembered how nervous she’d been just before, when Amethyst had kissed her, and she’d had to stop it. She remembered it, but it seemed like that was someone else entirely, someone irrational who thought that herself was to blame, when it wasn’t. Looking into Amethyst’s eyes, she thought that she had never wanted to kiss someone so badly, and at the same time, she realized that she would not mind the rejection, at least not as much as she’d thought she would. This, everything, had very little to do with Amethyst, compared to herself.

“I’m Peridot.” And realizing only a split second that this might not be enough, said hurriedly, “I’m trans.”

This was probably the timing to feel apprehensive. It didn’t quite come, but she backed away a miniscule for good measure.

“That’s a nice name.”

“Thank you. I picked it myself.”

“So should I call you that from now on?”

“When we’re alone, if you would. Otherwise just call me Perry.”

“Yeah, but I’ll know it’s Peri, like with an i.”

“Yes, I’d like that.” She smiled. “Just so you know, this was much easier than with my parents and therapist.”

“That’s cuz I’m so much cooler than most people.”

Peridot made a contented little hmmm.

“Hey, so since we’re tellin each other stuff, was this why you acted all scared before?”

“That was the primary reason, yes.”

“So… we finish where we left off?”

“No.” Peridot felt oddly proud for saying so.

Amethyst looked visibly hurt, then tried to hide it. “Let’s go back then-“

“I don’t want my first kiss to happen on top of a toilet seat. While I’m covered with dirt.”

Amethyst grinned, slowly. “And spiders.” She flicked one off her hair to illustrate. “But how’s this your first kiss?”

“I suppose just before, you weren’t really kissing _me_? That was with Perry… I’m not making much sense, but I don’t want that one to count.”

“Nah, I think I get it. So, what, you want a fancy dinner or something? I had no idea I was dating a snob.”

“Anywhere that doesn’t smell like bleach is fine, actually.” Peridot coughed. “So we’re dating?”

Peridot could have sworn Amethyst blushed, but it might have been a trick of the light. “Do you want to?”

“Judging from everything that transpired, I think that would be in both our best interest.”

Amethyst snorted in laughter. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” She jumped off, and held out a hand for her. “You can’t tell me you don’t talk like that on purpose. Seriously.”

“Talk like what?” Peridot stepped down, but didn’t let go off Amethyst’s hands.

That is, not until they stepped outside to find Smiley waiting for them. Amethyst cussed under her breath, but Peridot kept her calm. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t bothered by the prospect of detention. Not if they were both there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hiatus and the cliche.  
> When I decided to write this fic, I was all, Peridot's the poster girl for an INTP! (from the 16 personalities MBTI test, if you guys know what that is) It'll be a breeze writing her in character!   
> I was wrong. 
> 
> Whelp, it was still fun. Who wants more Peri in Summer of Steven? Hint:me


End file.
